Games 37, 38

17-21

Games one and two versus the defending World Series Champion San Francisco Giants

Ryan Dempster...this is how you pitch!

Dempster won his second game of the season (2-4) behind six innings of work where he struck out 11 and only allowed six batters to reach base.  Dempster finally also got some back up from the bats!

Cubs hitters plated 11 of the eighteen hitters who reached (14 hits, 4 walks). The top four in the batting order wold go 9-18 with six runs scored, and six RBI's...including 3-5 for Starlin Castro (2runs, 2 RBI) and 3-5 for Darwin Barney (1 run, 3 RBI).  The top of the order wasn't the only portion of the lineup to produce. Reed Johnson went 3-5 with four RBI's and a run scored out of the six slot in the order.

The defending champs pitched like anything but champs. all four pitchers to appear for San Fran gave up at least one run.  Starter Madison Bumgarner 3 ER, Jeremy Affeldt 4 ER, Guillermo Mota 1 ER and Dan Runzler 3 ER.

Game two saw the return to the majors of Doug Davis who took the hill for the Cubs.

Davis, who hadn't pitched since July of last year, pitched five innings and gave up 3 runs while striking out six in a rain shortened game.  Thanks to some untimely errors only one of those three runs was earned. It's been a rough year for Davis, according to the mlb.com story for the game "He (Davis) was diagnosed in 2008 with thyroid cancer, and one year ago in May, he discovered he had pericarditis, an inflammation of the lining around the heart. Then, his elbow flared up."

It looks like the Cubs may have finally found a stop gap pitcher while they wait to see what Randy Wells and Andrew Cashner pitch like on their returns from the disabled list.

The game ended up being official after a forty minute rain delay after six innings were played. That delay, and errors by Koyie Hill and Blake Dewitt, ended up costing Davis a chance at a win in his return.